Who would you consider to be an Ethical Manufacturer in the Audio Business?

[Ron Texas]

JBL

 

[teashea]

Neumann, SSL, Audient, Nord, Sweetwater, Avalon Design,

 

[ninanina]

Neumann, SSL, Audient, Nord, Sweetwater, Avalon Design,

I’ve recently had contact with Magnepan direct and they were quick to reply and extremely helpful

 

[aschen]

Bryston fixed a very minor issue on my 16 yo integrated no charge no questions asked and paid return shipping, turn around time door to door was under a month. Their stuff is expensive but built by people who care out of very high quality materials. Amp come with burn in test and measurement sheet signed off by the tech. Also have a 4B3 amp everything about it screams genuinely well made, not just absurdly thick cases like boutique high end. Sometimes you want something "good" without being super worried about price. For me that is Bryston.

Special shout out to MiniDSP on value if not quality/customer support.

 

[Billy Budapest]

Bryston fixed a very minor issue on my 16 yo integrated no charge no questions asked and paid return shipping, turn around time door to door was under a month. Their stuff is expensive but built by people who care out of very high quality materials. Amp come with burn in test and measurement sheet signed off by the tech. Also have a 4B3 amp everything about it screams genuinely well made, not just absurdly thick cases like boutique high end. Sometimes you want something "good" without being super worried about price. For me that is Bryston.

Special shout out to MiniDSP on value if not quality/customer support.

They have a 20 year warranty—that’s one of the things you pay for with Bryston.

 

[aschen]

Sure, but getting an older than 20yo bryston product serviced or repaired is no problem as well though they generally charge. I expected at least some hassle or to have to pay for shipping. Now they are doing in house complete restorations as well. I get it they charge you for that luxury up front, but there aren't many other companies that support their products to such an extent.

To be fair, i Know audio research services near ancient equipment as well, but they are closer to snake oil and I know repairs are big $$. I am sure there are other companies as well

 

[ta240]

The Twitter debacle seems to argue differently. There, he seems to be a guy that just can't stop shooting his own foot.

A big problem for creative, ingenious types is they sometimes think they can do or fix anything; when in reality there are times when they should pause and ask others advice.

 

[ta240]

I personally exclude a lot of manufacturers with class-leading products, because their top end products are ridiculously priced.

For example:
Audeze (4,500 USD for headphones)
DCA (4,500 USD for headphones)
Sennheiser (55,000 USD for headphones)
Perlisten (8,000 USD for a small bookshelf and charge 1,600 USD more to change the goddamn finish)
KEF (9,000 USD for a small bookshelf)
Revel (small Gem2 ~10,000 USD)
JBL (I believe they have speakers exceeding 100,000 USD)
Genelec (not far behind with the 1236A)

I would hesitate to purchase from them.

Sure, some people buy these "flagship" products but I don't think it's right. Most of the companies have reasonably priced products too but this doesn't redeem them in my eyes.

In terms of value some manufacturers I'd include which make good products are: Topping, March Audio, Benchmark, RME, Arendal Sound. Yes they make expensive products but they're not off target by multiples, and they perform like they cost.

Since I'm looking for some new headphones and subwoofers I'm somewhat interested in Ollo and SVS, too.

Do they make false claims about the luxury products or do they just offer them for the customers that want more exclusivity? If I won a billion dollar lottery I'd want speakers that looked amazing with incredible craftmanship and would be fine with paying those prices. There is a customer base that can spend the highest of the prices you listed there and not even notice they spent it. Heck their investments probably gained back that amount in the time it took to get it setup
Are those customers paying for the development of tech that will end up in their products for mere mortals soon?

 

[concorde1]

Do they make false claims about the luxury products or do they just offer them for the customers that want more exclusivity? If I won a billion dollar lottery I'd want speakers that looked amazing with incredible craftmanship and would be fine with paying those prices. There is a customer base that can spend the highest of the prices you listed there and not even notice they spent it. Heck their investments probably gained back that amount in the time it took to get it setup
Are those customers paying for the development of tech that will end up in their products for mere mortals soon?

Fair - I didn't think out my post - I guess what I meant was I personally prefer to buy from a company whose top end products are, yes, expensive, but somewhat sanely priced.

But then again if JBL, with all its $100,000 speakers, came out with a sanely priced LSR6332 successor, I would buy it.

I don't feel as strongly as I made out in the post.

 

[madrac]

I've always been happy/satisfied with my dealings with the following AV companies: Anthem, Ascend Acoustics, Manley, Rogue Audio, Rythmik & VPI.

For snake oil and lack of ethics, first one that comes to mind is Emotiva.

 

[pderousse]

I appreciate this question, and will just point out there are Lots of internet only & off-shored brands mentioned above. Is it ethical if only the consumer thinks it is a good price-to-measurements proposition and it is not a fair proposition (or an unknown one) for the worker and worker’s dependents in an overseas factory? If the answer is no or we don’t know, then we would need a lot more information about the operations of the many overseas brands mentioned above to answer this. If it is really 100% made in the USA, then it is very likely that +30% of the retail price is the employee benefits plan. There’s no reason to mention some of those ‘prestige’ brands that get one laughed out of such forums (dismissed as ‘snake oil’, ‘legacy’, ‘overpriced’, etc). and the reason is there is an implicit SINAD-to-price comparison shopping here, despite the fact that many recent improvements are so far below the threshold of hearing, as the lead tester often reminds us, that a sota dac can now be had for 10% of what something comperable cost 20 years ago. The amps are outstanding, and the only place to really compete as a manufacturer is on cost. When a product becomes commodified, ethics becomes an important question, and we have not even considered climate impact. (BTW: I am not holier than thou. As a complex modern adult, I own both prestige brands and some real creep, ethically questionable kit.)

 

[boXem]

From the other side of the barrier, this is an interesting thread about customer perception.
Some of the brands that have been quoted just don't respect the local laws from the region where they operate, yet they are considered as 'ethical'.

 

[abdo123]

From the other side of the barrier, this is an interesting thread about customer perception.
Some of the brands that have been quoted just don't respect the local laws from the region where they operate, yet they are considered as 'ethical'.

Call them out!

 

[boXem]

Call them out!

That is not an action that I would consider as 'ethical'

 

[abdo123]

That is not an action that I would consider as 'ethical'

another person might argue that your silence is unethical for reasons that are too obvious to list.

 

[boXem]

another person might argue that your silence is unethical for reasons that are too obvious to list.

I would indeed be interested to see this list because it's not obvious at all to me.

 

[NTK]

another person might argue that your silence is unethical for reasons that are too obvious to list.

I think conflict of interest would be an ethical reason for Boxem to stay mum, as calling out a competitor could also be serving his interest too, and therefore his objectivity would be questionable.

 

[boXem]

I think conflict of interest would be an ethical reason for Boxem to stay mum, as calling out a competitor could also be serving his interest too, and therefore his objectivity would be questionable.

Exactly.

 

[Lambda]

RME, Genelec, Neumann, Motu, Schoeps, bcspeakers, MiniDSP, Neutrik, neurochrome
With some exceptions:
Sennheiser, Beyerdynamic, Yamaha, Rode, Sure, EV, Wondom/sure, Korg

 

[sprellemannen]

Yet another vote for Benchmark. I've contacted (pestered) Rory countless times and always hear back almost immediately with a thoughtful and knowledgeable response. He has never tried to sell me anything. In fact when I was desperate to justify a second AHB2 he said basically, you don't need a second one but if you're determined to buy one I'll be glad to sell you one lol.
I've also contacted their service department and gotten rapid and expert responses. I recently sent in my LA4 for a firmware upgrade. When it was there they replaced/updated a main board at no charge; the old one was not defective they just wanted me to have the latest version. The work was done in one day and shipped later that same day. Total cost: $50 plus shipping.
Seriously, these days where are you going to find that level of service and expertise?

Benchmark's service and expertise is top notch. Great people, and Rory is great.